1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates in general to the data processing field. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus and computer program product for assigning computer resources to a logical partition in a multipartitioned computer system using qualitative information and conversion functions.
2. Background Art
Computer systems typically include a combination of hardware and software. The combination of hardware and software on a particular computer system defines a computing environment. Different hardware platforms and different operating systems thus provide different computing environments. In recent years, engineers have recognized that it is possible to provide different computing environments on the same physical computer system by logically partitioning the computer system resources into different computing environments. Such a computer system is often referred to as a multipartitioned computer system. The IBM Power Systems (formerly IBM System i) computer system developed by International Business Machines Corporation is an example of a computer system that supports logical partitioning. If logical partitioning on an IBM System i computer system is desired, partition manager code (referred to as a “hypervisor” in IBM terminology) is installed that allows defining different computing environments on the same platform. Once the partition manager is installed, logical partitions may be created that define different computing environments. The partition manager manages the logical partitions to assure that they can share needed resources in the computer system while maintaining the separate computing environments defined by the logical partitions.
A computer system that includes multiple logical partitions typically shares resources (e.g., processors, memory, persistent storage, and other physical hardware) amongst the logical partitions. For example, a computer system with a single CPU could have two logical partitions defined, with 50% of the CPU assigned to each logical partition, with 33% of the memory assigned to the first logical partition and 67% of the memory assigned to the second logical partition, and with two different I/O slots assigned to the two logical partitions, one per partition. Once logical partitions are defined and shared resources are assigned to the logical partitions, each logical partition acts as a separate computer system. Thus, in the example above that has a single computer system with two logical partitions, the two logical partitions will appear for all practical purposes to be two separate and distinct computer systems.
Many modern computer systems (e.g., server systems) have logical partitioning management approaches that require an extremely high level of technical knowledge to assign computer resources to logical partitions. Such a conventional logical partitioning management approach is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 7,565,398 B2, issued Jul. 21, 2009 to Shamsundar Ashok et al., and entitled “PROCEDURE FOR DYNAMIC RECONFIGURATION OF RESOURCES OF LOGICAL PARTITIONS”. Using a graphical user interface (GUI), a user may indicate a plurality of resources that are to be involved in a partition reconfiguration. Some users, however, are not familiar with computer science concepts that are commonly used in conventional logical partitioning management approaches, such as the “number of CPU's to move/add/remove”, “amount of memory to move/add/remove”, “adapters used by this partition”, “free system adapters”, etc.
Moreover, when automated partitioning capability is provided in conventional logical partitioning management approaches, it is typically reactive rather than proactive. In a typical reactive automated partitioning scheme, an agent detects over-utilization of a resource in a partition and then assigns more of the resource to the partition. A more proactive automated partitioning scheme is exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 7,266,823 B2, issued Sep. 4, 2007 to Jack A. Alford, Jr., and entitled “APPARATUS AND METHOD OF DYNAMICALLY REPARTITIONING A COMPUTER SYSTEM IN RESPONSE TO PARTITION WORKLOADS”. A workload schedule is used to re-deploy resources in advance of peak periods and then re-assign the resources back to their original partitions after the peak periods are over. The partitions, however, are defined in a conventional manner. A system administrator, using a GUI or the resource management software language command, specifies the number of CPUs, the amount of memory and the specific I/O slots that will be devoted to each partition. This requires an extremely high level of technical knowledge. While a system administrator will typically have the requisite technical knowledge, other users may not be familiar with computer science concepts that are commonly used to assign computer resources to logical partitions.
Therefore, a need exists for an enhanced mechanism for assigning computer resources to logical partitions in a multipartitioned computer system, especially for users that are not familiar with computer science concepts.